A Dynamic Duo - LeNell It All

by LeNell Smothers, Posted Aug 18th 2010 @ 5:00PM

Photo: Mixellany

Rarely in the drinks business do you find a couple actually working together as partners, equals behind the bar. Anistatia Miller and Jared Brown may not be working full time behind the bar as a cocktail couple, but they sure do contribute a lot to the cocktail community as writers and historians.

I first met them as founders of the Museum of the American Cocktail, in New Orleans, where drinking history is told via displays of old books, bar tools, advertisements, and educational seminars. I later spent some time with them as they painstakingly preserved thousands of bottles housed on the Ĭle de Bendor in the south of France, where in 1958 Paul Ricard of pastis fame began a grand collection (including items from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe) of drink history called the Exposition Universelle des Vins et Spiritueux (EUVS). If you can make it to Bandol, the lovely boat ride to see the amazing displays of bottles, old menus, and glassware is well worth the effort, but if that's not in the cards you should peruse the collection on the EUVS website.

To further cocktail conversation, they launched Mixologist: The Journal of the American Cocktail and then later The Journal of the European Cocktail that serve as periodicals for scholarly research and debate on the origins, history, and sociology of spirits, cocktails, and the places that serve them. The journals have included in-depth articles on everything from the chemistry behind simple syrup to the lore of the mint julep (penned by yours truly).

Anistatia and Jared have written numerous books, including one of the best selling martini books of all time, "Shaken Not Stirred: A Celebration of the Martini." Their writing led to the establishment of their own production company called Mixellany, where you'll find not only their books, but works by drink gurus such as Gary Regan plus reprints of old cocktail books like Bariana (1900). You can even download free copies of Cups and Their Customs (1869) as well as Anistatia and Jared's own London's Classic Gin Cocktails and Cuba: The Legend of Rum. Around November of this year, look for the recap of their many years of research with a whopper of a book titled Spirituous Journey: A History of Drink.

Besides writing and curating, the Miller Brown team's travel schedule is intense, with presentations at nearly every major bar show in the world. They've had their hands in product development -- as partners in a vodka brand and in the development of the new Beefeater 24 gin. However, their recent accomplishment was winning a gold medal from the Beverage Testing Institute (BTI) for Jared's Sipsmith gin.

They are currently working on a book about making beverages from your home garden and have launched a website called Slow Drinks, where they share their gardening tips and recipes. Here's a delicious recipe for a ratafia (unfermented fruit juice with spirit) from their garden research as a preview of the upcoming book.

Ratafia Basics
1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) fruit (try strawberries)
3.5 ml (about 3.75 quarts) water
1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) powdered sugar
1 liter bottle of spirit (try bourbon)

Bring fruit and 500ml (about 17 ounces) of water to a boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and cool.
Strain through a fine sieve into another pot.
Dissolve sugar in 3L (little less than 3.25 quarts) of water.
Add sugar water to fruit liquid.
Stir until clear.
Add spirit.
Bottle in sterile bottles and age for 1 month.
Chill and serve.
Shelf life is 1 year.

Alabama-born LeNell Smothers defines herself first and foremost as a bartender, but she's been called many things -- most recently, the proprietress of Casa Cóctel with partner Demián Camacho Santa Ana. She's owned her own whiskey label, called Red Hook Rye, and has been recognized by her home state as an honorary Colonel. Other interests include gin, sin and men.

Filed Under: Drinks
Tags: anistatia miller, cocktails, jared brown, museum of the american cocktail, sipsmith gin